A gentleman's pearl
by chloemcg
Summary: Luke Triton discovers a crying Pearl Fey during a walk. So, being a gentleman, he decides to try and cheer her up. But what happens when Luke has to be her heroic knight in shining armor when danger decides to unveil itself? Can Luke prove himself to be a true gentleman when a young lady truly needs him? Feyt fic.
1. Part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Professor Layton or Ace attorney franchises, the rights to both of them belong to Capcom and Level-5.**

 **A gentleman's pearl**

* * *

It was a cold and blustery evening in London England as snowflakes whirled through the air, dancing as rather strong slivers of wind blew.

It was only just the beginning of Spring and the winter snow that had been anticipated last season had finally decided to reveal itself and coat London in a thick blanket of snow and frost. The temperatures had dropped into the lower spectrums of what it normally would have been around a wintry Springtime, and had hit the city like a drop kick to the back of the head.

The little specks of snow came fluttering down as some stormy clouds started to roll in from the North of London, the nighttime skies became darkened and gloomy —filled with massive and pronounced grey clouds that had decided to just casually pop up out of completely nowhere— and it was very uncaring when the down drift had found its victim in the apprentice of famous gentlemen archeologist/puzzle aficionado who just so happened to have been walking along in the heavy shower.

Professor Hershel Layton's young apprentice, Luke Triton, was just walking along the side of the road in rather brisk paces to try and escape getting hit by the heavy amount of snowflakes that fluttered feebly to the snow-coated ground and the frigid cold beginning-of-Spring temperatures. Every single flake felt like a dagger of ice piercing their skin each time it hit one of them.

Luke couldn't hold back a small shiver when a sudden sliver of a breeze brushed passed, his teeth chattered and he could have sworn that he felt some goosebumps pop up and dot each of his arms underneath the thick coat he wore.

Why was he out at night? Well, it was because he felt like taking a small stroll right now. It had become routine for him to go out at six in the evening; the Professor and Luke, himself, had an agreement that he could go out by himself only if he stayed close to the apartment and came home by eight o'clock.

The young boy agreed of course, since he found those rules were perfectly reasonable and he wanted to respect his top-hat-wearing mentor's wishes and so that's exactly what he was going to do. Sometimes when he'd go out on his nighttime excursions, he'd have some nice conversations with the occasional critter or the like that he would casually come across on his small excursions.

But what the young gent in blue didn't know was that this was going to be a walk he never would forget, not for as long as he lived.

He started to pick up the pace and go home early. The cold winds were starting to become a little too much for him when they started to turn into pretty strong gales with a crisp winter/springtime edge to it. The winds were blowing the snowflakes into his face now and were trying to obstruct his visage and this caused the boy to squint his eyes through the harsh whirlwind of little white specks.

He reached up to touch his signature blue cap and adjusted it on his head a bit, making absolutely sure that the winds wouldn't blow it off his head, then Luke refocused his attention to what was on his neck. Wrapped around him was a cherry red scarf that he looped around his neck just a bit tighter in an attempt to keep warm against the gale-force winds and continued on his way, but he was stopped in his tracks when he saw something twitch out of the corner of his eye.

What was it?

It looked like a tail.

He was convinced to investigate further when he that it belonged to a small cat, a brown tabby, lazily lay down to perch on a near frozen windowsill that was just above the human boy. All the cat could really do was and glance down at him with its head jerking in a way that indicated that it wished for the boy to approach it.

Luke decided to do just that. Due to him being able to converse with the fluffy, feathery and scaly, he knew very well of animals and their habits.

Yet he had to wonder what this stray alley cat wanted with him, they sort of liked to keep to themselves...especially around winter time.

This was a known fact.

The cat mewled at Luke, mewing softly and melodically, and licked its paw and wiped it across its face to clean itself. The gentleman-in-training interpreted the cat's mewling and meowing in his own mind as words, he listened and registered whatever the little kitty cat was telling him carefully. Since he could speak to animals, he could understand them much easier then anyone else could. It was a talent he was glad to have.

"So..." The young gentleman asked the cat with a very slight tremble of trepidation in his voice "You say that you saw someone head that way? Crying?"

The cat bobbed its head in a single nod and made a noise of confirmation whilst it's cute little pink nose twitched as well as its whiskers. The feline continued to make noises, though, still communicating with the young boy wearing the blue cap and giving him some additional information and then relaxed itself on its perch high above.

Luke looked at the cat with a raised eyebrow as he inquired. "You didn't see what they looked like or anything? Couldn't tell whether they were a male or female or not?"

The cat shook its head and yawned tiredly, stretching out its front paws. The tabby cat started to look tired as its hind legs and front paws started to dangle off the edge of the ledges —huge green eyes started to drift shut and the cats tail flicked with agitation. The cat mewed again, this time sounding a bit miffed with the animal-whisperer.

Luke sighed "I know that it's late and you want to get to sleep but can't you tell me anymore about it?"

The cat seemed a bit more annoyed with Luke and just gave one last hiss of a noise and jerked its head in a gesture to point towards the direction where this person had allegedly gone.

Luke's curious expression drooped into a blunt and rather sarcastic one. "You want me to go and see for myself...?"

The cat nodded its head once again and the boy simply sighed to himself exasperatedly, sometimes cats could be a little difficult to talk to -especially feral cats whom lived in the London alleyways. They would always seem to not very care much about others and only care about themselves. He exhumed a deep-throated sigh and lowered his head a bit when he realised that, like the young tabby had just suggested, he'd have to look for himself.

Luke tipped his hat politely up at the cat and put on his most grateful and appreciative smile, even though it was a supremely hard thing to do in the face of a rather irritating costumer.

"Alright. Have a good evening, sir-"

He was instantly met with a violent hiss in response and a swipe of the claws from the street tabby before he could finish that sentence and he instantly became very nervous and very, very, very apologetic as he had just made a _huge_ blunder.

A cold sweat soaked his brow and he frantically amended that sentence.

"A-Ah! I am _so_ sorry, _madam_!"

Luke then hastily ran away from the angered feline informant and took off like a speeding bullet towards the direction where he had been directed to go, he was running so fast and so frantically but he stopped dead in his tracks when a soft noise reached his frost-bitten ears.

It was a soft and quiet noise.

But he kind of recognised it as...crying?

This was probably the same source of crying that the cat had told him of.

Alas Luke's head perked up. Who would be out here in such harsh and cold weather conditions? And even more so, who would be bonkers enough to be out at this hour...other than himself? A passing thought rushed through his mind that it was probably just another stray cat digging through the rubbish bins or something.

But Luke knew better. Those weren't the cries of some poor innocent animal and he knew all too well that he wasn't hearing things, his gut was squeezing inside his tummy, screaming at him to listen to it. He felt that his curiosity had to be sated and he wanted to act on his gentlemanly instincts and he couldn't bear to hear anyone weep, whether they be crazy or not.

It didn't take him very long at all before he found himself stood on what looked like an abandoned hilltop.

He gazed wearily at his surroundings but he couldn't see much but a lot of snow as far as the eye could see, he closed his eyes and flinched when another sliver of cold wintry winds brushed passed him but tried his best to ignore it. He focused on all the sounds around him and even if they were muffled by the sounds of the winds, he caught on to the sobs and turned on his feet to stare at what was behind him.

He saw nothing except something that looked like a turned-over busted old iron barrel which, like everything else in this parkland, was covered in a thick and icy cold layer of snow. But then he caught sight of the barrel shaking a bit and he actually just now noticed that the old metal barrel was shaking a hint despite the wind rattling it -and, despite the fact that the winds were becoming steadily more powerful, it was staying glued to its spot.

"Huh?" Luke's brow furrowed in downright confusion, "What's that?"

This situation was getting increasingly bizarre and bewildering.

The apprentice gentleman didn't know how to tackle this situation but what he did know was that he had to proceed with caution because there could be some dangerous stranger hiding in the barrel for all he knew. They could have been trying to lure him in like a fish to a baited hook to take everything he owned or something like that or do something even more sinister.

Who knew what he'd find if he just looked?

"Hmm...if I want to solve this puzzle then I guess I'm going to have to be very quiet and careful." He muttered to himself, bringing his own arms close to his chest and hugging himself when yet another sliver of ice-cold winds caught him in an instant light hurricane -these winds were becoming fierce with every second that passed, he had to hurry if he wanted to get home before a blizzard would hit.

He didn't want to catch hypothermia.

The young gentleman proceeded onwards, he crept carefully up to the turned-over barrel. He merely cringed when he realised that the frigid cold started to nibble away at his plump cheeks. Each time he'd take a step that the snow would crunch beneath his shoes but he just tried to ignore that little fact. The closer he got to the barrel, the more his mind and his heart raced and he was certain that the tips of his fingers were starting to go numb from the extremely cold temperature.

It felt like an eternity before he finally stopped in front of the big metal barrel and peered in to see what could possibly be inside.

Luke gasped in disbelief and instinctively took a step backwards in reaction, shock being the strongest out of all of them, he felt his cheeks burn like magma and his heart break into a galloping leap inside his chest. His jaw dropped and his mouth was left hung open, "O-Oh my..."

It was a young girl sat right in the barrel, huddled in the very back of it to keep warm and to indicate that she was rather frightened.

Despite it being a little dark on the inside, the young gentleman could make out bits of the girl's appearance; she looked to have been about eight years of age. She was wearing a purplish kimono-like gown and she was wearing a matching shawl, probably just to keep her warm despite the frigid temperatures, a bunch of big beads hung around her neck but there was something missing. She had hazel brown hair that was neatly tied up into a pretzel and her skin was as pale and fair as the snow but had just a delicate shade of peachy pink too, her eyes were huge and brown and so beautiful as they gleamed like little bright lights despite the dark.

The boy was surprised that this whole time, this girl had been hiding out in the cold.

But he also couldn't help but think of another thing whence he first lain his eyes upon her. He knew that it was something that he shouldn't have been really focusing on but he couldn't help but find this girl enchanting to look at. Her face looked like it had been carved from the heavens, her eyes (though teary) reminded Luke of a mug of steaming hot chocolate. She was so stunning that he could stare at her all night long and never become bored.

" _Sh-Shes really pretty_..."

He didn't exactly know what he was feeling right now, other than stunned surprise, but his heart wouldn't stop drumming within his chest and it was a sensation that he found that he rather liked. His cheeks were ablaze and he wasn't sure whether it was frost bite or something else. He shook his head quickly, shaking himself out of his state of shock, he had to evaluate her condition first and foremost.

He couldn't just be fixated on how pretty she looked, she could've been hurt for all he knew! He leaned in a little to get a better look at the girl and asked her in a gentle tone of voice.

"E-Excuse me, are you alright?"

It seemed that the girl hadn't even noticed the young apprentice gentleman and jerked into motion immediately after he spoke with that soft hushed tone of voice, she let loose a gasp and her sleeves instantly went to rub at her eyes which were raw and had been tinted red. That was a massive sign that she had been crying before Luke showed up -proof that she was, indeed, the source of the quiet snivels and sobs from before and the pretzel-bunned girl just stared up at Luke with fearful and timid eyes.

She curled up into a ball as she retreated back into the corner of the barrel.

"I...I don't know..." She admitted, looking down at the huge beads that hung around her neck. "I'm...I'm lost...and I don't know where I am."

Luke blinked in bewilderment at the young girl, his face a mask of confusion. He didn't understand why this girl was out here to begin with, and he was a bit worried for her...especially seeing as there was really nobody around outside at this minute in time. Not that he could see, anyway. Nobody should get lost in this cold weather. There was something about her that struck Luke about her as familiar, but couldn't place his finger on how.

"Really? Well, I can help you get back home if you want." He offered her a kind and sincere smile.

But then the girl shook her head and moved to back herself right up against what should have been the bottom of the barrel, her eyes down and her frown huge as she clutched her chest, right where there was a somewhat empty part of her heavy-looking beaded necklace.

"I...can't. B-Because there's something important I've lost and I can't find it."

Luke started to understand now as he had pieced together the events of what this young girl had gone through. She had probably got out of her house or something to look for this thing she had misplaced, somewhere around here probably, and had gotten a tad chilly from the frigid temperatures so decided to take shelter from the cold night. It sounded like a reasonable deduction, for sure, but there was still something about all this -something that felt rather curious about _her_.

Luke wasn't entirely sure what to do next but what he _did_ know was that he had to try and coax the young girl out of there.

He didn't even care anymore if this made him, himself, come down with a cold, or if it would break the curfew that was set up for him but he had to do something since doing nothing was simply not an option because he knew that he would never be able to call himself a true gentleman (not even an apprentice gentleman) if he turned his back on someone, especially a _lady_ , who needed his help.

"I can help you find it if you would like, two heads are better then one. Besides you could catch a serious cold if you stay in there..."

The girl sniffled and tilted her head to one side in confusion but she also appeared to have been very depressed and downcast, "Why would you wanna help me?"

Luke smiled gently. Judging by the girl's accent, she was an American and he simply found her voice so sweet, it sounded like the sweet soft chime of a bell to his ears, and he didn't know what it was about her but he just couldn't help but find her to be quite adorable. He said the first thing that popped into his mind -a repeat of one of the Professor's many gentlemanly proclamations.

"Why wouldn't I? It _is_ the duty of every true gentleman to help a lady in need,"

The little girl seemed reluctant at first as she stared at the young eleven-year-old's hand uncertainly, but after a few moments a small smile curled at the corners of her lips and she accepted the boy's invitation and took his hand. He assisted her to stand by pulling her to her own two feet and he smiled at her, grinning gently from ear-to-ear.

"My name is Luke Triton, what's your name?"

The girl averted eye contact timidly as she returned the introduction. "Um...my names Pearl. Pearl Fey. But my cousin calls me 'Pearly'."

Then it hit him like a train.

 _Ah! I r-remember now!_

Luke turned to Pearl almost frantically, his eyes wide and his mouth agape as he took on an almost frazzled demeanor. "Pearl, you wouldn't happen to know someone by the name of "Maya Fey" would you?"

Pearly's eyes lit up instantly when she heard that name but it was more out of admiration rather then shock that the gentleman's apprentice knew such a name to begin with. Her cheeks turned a ripe cherry red hue and her hands flew to them and she let loose a flurry of giggles that quite honestly made Luke's heart explode internally. "Yeah, Mystic Maya's my cousin,"

Luke stared adoringly at the pretzel-haired girl. She was so adorable, but he wouldn't tell her that because if she was anything like her cousin then she wouldn't take kindly to it and he just didn't want to risk that.

It was after that when Pearly explained that Maya and Phoenix had come on a brief short Holiday to London and were actually hoping to drop by to the Professor's the next day. All the while she gushed about her cousin and the spiky-haired lawyer dressed in blue, whom she referred to as "Mr. Nick" for some reason but Luke knew better then to question. She also explained that earlier that same day some bullies had approached her in the park and took her prized gem, something called a Magatama, and buried it in the snow so she had snuck out of the holiday home to find it. She apparently didn't have the courage to tell Maya about it as she didn't want to be a bothersome pest.

Pearl dried her damp eyes with a sleeve as both herself and her new friend dropped down to their knees and searched through the snow to try and find Pearly's misplaced item. As they dug with relentless vigour, Pearls tilted her head to one side whilst looking towards the young apprentice gentleman in her company. She decided to change the subject, "S-So, your P-Professor Layman's app-en-ee-tice?"

Luke just couldn't keep a small light-hearted smile from curling at the corners of his lips, the eight-year-old girl's way of mispronouncing things was quite charming. He normally would have been a touch indignant about people mispronouncing his respected mentor's name and his title but, for some reason, he found himself willing to let it slide with the young pretzel-haired medium. Yet he decided to correct her anyway.

"Um...Its "Layton" and "apprentice", Pearl. But yes! I'm his apprentice number 1!" He proudly jerked his thumb to his own mildly-puffed out chest to put an emphasis on his self-bestowed (but totally accurate) title.

In the meantime, Pearl looked mystified. For a couple of moments, she hadn't spoken a word thus leaving a rather awkward silence in their wake. Her brown pools were huge and gleamed in the moonlight whilst a small but rather meek smile curled at the corners of her lips, she couldn't prevent a small giggle from escaping the back of her throat. Despite the cold she felt herself start to shiver on the spot whilst she continued to shovel away -the snow piling up in small hills behind them as both Luke and Pearl constantly changed spots to continue their search.

It felt like an eternity while the two children dug through the snow in search of the precious gemstone.

Alas the bitter cold started to turn their hands and fingers red and numb and nibbled at their cheeks, turning them redder and raw; so they decided to just have a break after awhile and climb back into the barrel and look up at the night sky. They both huddled up to one another to keep warm, Luke unwrapping his scarf from his neck and furling it around both of their necks. Luke was especially cold, as he wasn't as accustomed to this climate as his new friend was, so he just basked in the body heat that radiated from the young girl.

They were abruptly pulled from their state of cold nighttime huddling when they both noticed that a small distance away, a small flock of birds fluttered down to the ground and then stood perched on the snowy ground. They seemed to be a small group of robins, they pecked at the snow to try and find some worms or any insects to nibble on despite the icy frigid outdoor temperature.

Seeing the two birds encouraged Pearl out from the hiding place as she slowly climbed out and crawled on the snow, clenching her teeth tight to fight off the inner frigid cold that ran through her bloodstream and she approached the tiny feathery creatures although her bones and her joints felt as stiff as the ice and snow surrounding her. Her big brown eyes were agleam with a unique mix of curiosity and perplexity.

These were birds that she had never seen before; they weren't native to the village of Khura'in back in America, or as far as she knew.

It didn't take long until she stopped and was at least two feet from the small group of red-breast robins. Pearl inhaled with complete awe on her facial features and she may have felt cold but she couldn't resist the irresistible temptation she felt whenever any animal was in her line of sight. So she offered her cupped hands out to the birds, but a few flew away from her. The small girl's face dropped into a guilty frown and she bowed her head sadly in disappointment. She hadn't meant to scare them off like that, she just wanted to befriend them...her heart dropped into her stomach.

But her head perked up when she felt a weight on her shoulder.

Luke had placed his hand atop her shoulder and then, albeit stiffly, knelt down beside her and stuck his free hand into his jumper pocket. The young gentleman wearing the blue cap shuffled his hand in his pocket and then plucked a closed fist back out of that same pocket, then he gently tilted his hand down to the snowy ground and scattered a few birds seeds on the ground but in a trail.

Pearl was confused. Why did the young gentleman do that?

She hadn't needed to ponder on that question for long as some birds came back rather quickly and then the birds pecked continuously at the snow and eventually climbed into the palms of her hands, pecking at the seeds. Pearl gasped as she felt her heart swell in delight and her deep warm brown eyes sparkled and twinkled like the stars above. She grinned warmly at the birds landed and then perched inside her cupped hands. Then one of the birds looked up at Pearl and chirped, the tiny spirit medium spoke softly as she tried to reassure the other little birdies to come closer.

"It's alright," She crooned in a gentle tone, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Luke stared at Pearl from aside with an adoring look in his eyes as he could feel his heart constrict in his chest, his gaze softened and his little smile broadened considerably. He hadn't felt this way since that night he had met Arianna back when he used to live in Misthallery, but this time he felt something within his chest stir. He couldn't explain this feeling, he couldn't even try. Pearls seemed to have a soft spot for animals and he felt delighted at that, his cheeks even turned into a ripe cherry red colour -but he was uncertain whether that was from cold or from something else...

 _Even though we just met I think that she's an amazing girl,_ he thought.

"Luke,"

Pearl's voice snapped the young boy from his thoughts and his featherlight smile morphed into a frown. His onyx wide and curious eyes darted back and refocused themselves on the pretzel-haired young medium whom continued to hold one of the red-breast robins that had perched in her cupped hands but she was now staring him square in the face rather then the delicate little creature she was holding.

"How did you do that?"

Luke's smile returned and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

He never really felt like his ability to communicate with animals had warranted such awe and amazement from other people since communicating with the fluffy, scaly and feathery was second nature to him. Whenever anybody would compliment on his special talent he would get all bashful, especially as he didn't like bragging much...that is unless it was warranted in the situation.

"I...I can talk to animals...s-s-sort of...I suppose..."

The next thing the young blue-cap-wearing gentleman apprentice knew, Pearl had somehow launched herself at him with her eyes sparkling in wonder and the inevitable amazement. She was so close that their noses were inches away from touching, it made Luke want to back up a bit from his personal space being invaded but he tried not to let that bother him since he had made Pearly happier than earlier and there was no way he wanted to risk her crying again.

Pearl practically screeched "YOU CAN?! THATS AMAZING, LUKE!"

Although he felt mildly uncomfortable, he couldn't keep from giggling a bit at the girl's enthusiasm. He looked down at the small Robin and then used one finger to stroke its head, chirping at it under his breath. The bird seemed to like that as it let out a small purr-like nose and its feathery body puffed out and it's head sunk in between its shoulders. Luke couldn't hold back a chuckle as he glanced back over at a very eager and excited Pearl.

"Hahaha...really? Umm...errr...thanks. By the way, he said that he likes you."

After those words had left the boy's lips, Pearls couldn't keep an even more gigantic smile off of her face. She held up the Robin and snuggled it close to her face whilst cradling it as carefully as possible in her hands and the little bird seemed to love the hug almost as much as the human holding him did as it leaned its puffy and fuzzy body right up against the girl's icy cold cheek.

Then Luke cleared his throat awkwardly, coughing lightly against a closed fist and he suggested through shivering from the cold.

He secretly hoped that they could find this thing Pearl had lost very soon because not only was he getting supremely cold and rather tired from staying out later than he normally would but he was extremely eager to get Pearl back to her cousin before she noticed that her beloved cousin was gone; as far as he had heard, Pearly held Maya in high regard (kind of like he respected the Professor) so if he could get her home quickly without getting herself into trouble then he would have been completely satisfied that his work would be complete.

However, what neither of them were unaware of was that things were just about to take a rather bad turn...

"So, m-m-m-miss Pearl," he bowed his head curtly and chivalrously as he suggested through chattering teeth, wishing he had brought warmer stuff to wear on this below-freezing night. "now sh-sh-shall we find y-y-your lost—"

He never got to finish his sentence since a dark shadow had fallen over both him and Pearl. The little Robin the young medium had been holding in her hands had become startled and decided to fly off and flee. Somehow the atmosphere had become much colder than before and it made the two children feel a bit on the nervous side. The bitter numbness of the ice and snow had rendered them unable to move due to their legs being mostly frozen due to kneeling for such a long time.

They looked at one another as their happiness and joy from moments ago had turned into a mix of unease and nerves. Luke swallowed when terror crept over him whilst he felt a familiar presence and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

Pearl swallowed as she eyed the gentleman in blue fearfully.

"L-Luke...? What's happening?"

Luke looked at Pearl with horror on his face and he grit his teeth. He had a suspicion he knew exactly who this person was yet he kind of hoped that he was wrong, and he couldn't help but notice that his own two hands were shaking and shuddering like mad. His heart paused and his frost-bitten ears twitched when he suddenly heard a couple of footsteps crunching in the thick blanket of snow and, despite his terrified shaking, he quickly took the young girl's hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze in a nonverbal attempt to reassure her.

Pearl seemed justifiably confused and very concerned by Luke's fright. She hadn't known him for long but she could instantly tell that he was someone who wasn't openly frightened often and would try and be a feisty and fearless gentleman -she could tell by just looking into his eyes. But she could also tell that he was very afraid right now and the reason was linked to the oncoming footsteps that approached them.

The crunching of snow got louder and louder.

Soon they were met by a familiar face...but not the face they had been expecting.

"Luke, my boy? What are you doing out here so late?"

Just like that, Luke's terrified expression melted away like butter in a microwave when he saw the adult top-hatted gentleman towering over them. There was a very confused frown on his rectangular face and his brows were furrowed and he had an umbrella tucked under his arm. Luke felt a huge amount of relief when he saw the professor stood there and with that same inviting presence he would always give off. Yet he couldn't help but be a bit gobsmacked to see his mentor.

"P-Professor!"

* * *

 **A/N: SURPRISE!**

 **Here is part 1 for my two-parter Feyt love story.**

 **I have worked hard on this chapter and I sincerely hope that you guys enjoy it. I am working hard on the second chapter and will try and get it out soon, but I am going to take my time doing it because slow and steady wins the race.**

 **But please be sure to review and/or fave this fic.**

 **And a HUGE thanks and shoutout to JordanPhoenix for giving me the idea for the Beauty and the beast inspiration idea and for waiting so patiently for this.**

 **Thank you so much!**

 **-Chloemcg**


	2. Part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Professor Layton or Ace attorney franchises, the rights to both of them belong to Capcom and Level-5.**

 **A gentleman's pearl**

* * *

Luke had been rendered completely gobsmacked when he saw the Professor stood right in front of him, his jaw almost hit the snowy ground below whilst his mouth hung wide open and his eyes had become extremely wide. He had not expected to see the Professor until after all of this, whenever he returned back to the little house that both Layton and himself shared sometimes -he hadn't even considered that the Professor would come to find him!

It was when the Professor appeared that Pearl retreated behind Luke for protection. She had been gripping his shoulders nice and tightly for reassurance whilst shrinking back with huge eyes full with fear, she even let out a frightened whimper as she hid behind him. Poor Pearl looked so terrified that it was quite gut-wrenching for the Professor's apprentice and he could actually feel his heart churn with sympathy inside of his chest. He even managed a comforting glance as he reached up to his left shoulder and patted one of the soft peachy-pink hands that tightly gripped it.

In the meantime, Professor Layton simply glared with an arched eyebrow at the boy.

"You didn't answer my question."

Luke lowered his gaze ashamedly, a frown forcing itself on his lips. He hadn't meant to stay out so late and he had a feeling that the Professor would be a tad displeased with that choice he had made. He stared down at his own shadow that stretched across the snowy ground below him. Despite about thirty percent of his body being numbed by exposure to the ice and snow he felt a slight nervous sweat sweep through him. The boy found the snow better to look at than the disappointment on his mentor and idol's face.

"Well P-Professor, I...I found this girl all by herself so I stayed out t-to help her a-and I just l-l-lost track of time so—"

Luke was abruptly cut off from his explanation when the Professor held up his hand to silence him, a patient and wise expression on his face as he closed his dot-like eyes and rearranged the umbrella beneath his arm so he held it a bit higher and a bit more upright. He then used his free hand to readjust his top hat on his head, gripping the rim and tipping it slightly at the young girl that was now hiding timidly behind Luke for protection.

Quite honestly, it was an adorable display.

Professor Layton smiled softly and humbly at his young apprentice.

"It is alright, my boy. You did the right thing and for that I am proud; why don't little miss Pearl and yourself come back to the house and warm up?"

Luke found the courage to look into the Professor's eyes and he broke into a huge smile. To hear the professor say those words made his heart soar with glee and he felt the over whelming urge to jump up and down with joy like a 4-year-old. Thankfully he managed to hold it in and kept his own two feet in place. He couldn't afford to look like a complete idiot in front of the professor nor could he swallow it down if he were to make himself look like a child...or much more of a child then he already was.

However that was when something struck him as odd; his gleeful smile faltered slightly. His striking onyx eyes were now shimmering with this growing dread and confusion as he tilted his head to one side and stared up at the puzzle-solving gentleman.

"Hold on a second. How did you know Pearl's name? I don't think I introduced her yet..."

A so very long silence —except for the gusts of icy slivers of wind that blew by— was the boy's only reply and it left a rather unnerving atmosphere in its wake. Luke felt his heart start to sink whilst the implications of this rushed through his mind and he actually could physically feel his throat tighten up whenever he started to get a sneaking suspicion.

Professor Layton flinched as though struck, then he started to fumble around for answers for the contradiction that he had just pointed out. He smiled nervously and started to fidget on the spot while he stumbled and tripped over his words to try and fish for a plausible excuse.

"Um...Uhhh...you see, my boy..."

The Professor then broke off into a stuttered explanation, an explanation that was so full of holes that it would put swiss cheese to shame, and an explanation that sounded so false that it was falling on deaf ears.

In the meantime, Luke rubbed at his own chin with a finger and hummed thoughtfully.

He had found it quite strange that Professor Layton already knew Pearl's name despite never meeting her until now, and on sight too, plus there wasn't much reason for it at all...then there's the fact that the Professor arrived so casually out of nowhere and knew exactly where to find him despite him never taking this route. He had imagined that the Professor would have waited a bit before coming out to find him, he couldn't have been _that_ late to come back from his walk. Luke frowned to himself with a troubled frown stretching itself into a downwards curl on his lips. He started to think to himself about what could possibly be the reason for all of this, in the form of an internal monologue.

"Hmmm...this is very strange. But maybe it would be a bit less tricky if I turned my thinking around and thought of this as a puzzle! After all, every puzzle has an answer!"

The young apprentice gentleman closed his eyes and started to think of this conundrum as a puzzle.

"Now then...how could he know Pearl's name even though he had never met her? I guess there _is_ the possibility that Maya had told him back in Labyrinthia during that period of time when we had become separated but then the Professor wouldn't have known her straight away by appearance. There is another possibility that the Professor could have been spying on us but that's not very likely either since gentlemen don't spy on others... _maybe unless the situation calls for it_ , but still..."

Luke knew that there is something about the Professor that just seemed... _off_ , and that was when an idea popped into Luke's head. It was far fetched and honestly he had been wrong about something like this before.

"As far as I know, the Professor hasn't spoken to Mr. Wright nor Maya over the phone in awhile considering that they were probably busy battling in courtrooms back in the US...Hmmm; there's something really wrong here, there's something in my gut that tells me that somethings not right."

Luke thought long and hard for a few moments, his head spinning a bit...but then one single possibility popped into his head. It would explain everything yet he was very certain that he didn't like it one bit. He took a few steps back from the "professor" and then gave him the hardest glare as he pointed an accusing finger at him.

"You are not the Professor, are you? You're an impostor!"

Another very uncomfortable silence greeted the scene, it felt like he was causing time itself to freeze into one harrowing second. Luke stared at the "gentleman" stood over him and then, suddenly, a sudden nasty cackle filled the air.

That laugh...it sounded so familiar.

The gears in the young gentleman's head turned and an icy cold dread had suddenly enveloped him while the pieces of this puzzle fell together in his head with a sickening crack. He could only stare numbly as the Professor removed his hat from his head and his face peeled off along with it. Now, normally this would terrify most children...and that's exactly what it was doing to both Luke and Pearl.

All they could do was observe as "Professor Layton" removed his jacket, jumper, trousers and shoes until it revealed a man with a gigantic moustache wearing purple trousers and a very thick winter coat...with all the fluffiness you could imagine. It turned out that the umbrella he had been holding was actually some kind of device that was basically a stick with a bunch of gyrating propellers. The man held on to the stick-part of his contraction for dear life with one hand, it lifted him up into the air and while it was doing so, the moustached copy-cat evil genius cackled evilly as he seized Pearl by the wrist and then he plucked her off the ground letting her dangle in midair.

Pearl had tears in her eyes as she squeaked with fear.

Luke was absolutely stupefied beyond belief.

 _Blimey!_

All of his thoughts had froze in his mind, his complexion paled, his eyes were so wide in their sockets that they were practically looking as though they were about to pop out. His jaw dropped to the ground and his throat tightened.

He hadn't expected this!

"D-D-Don Paolo?!"

The evil inventor latched on to the hover umbrella device, still letting Pearl hang by the wrist. The small spirit medium squirmed around in his tight hold in a desperate attempt to free herself; she even forgot the laws of gravity for a second since if (by some sheer miracle) she did manage to break away from the moustache-man's grip then she would have quite the fall to deal with when she dropped straight down. Luke quickly shook off his initial shock and surprise before fearlessly stomping right towards the airborne evil inventor/imposter and demanded angrily whilst clenching his hands into very tight fists at his sides, "What do you want? Let her go!"

Paolo simply cast a cruel grin down towards the boy with a menacingly sinister gleam in his eyes. The bridge of his comically large nose wrinkled up with to mirror the scrunching of his eyebrows and he decided to make a comment right before answering the young boy's question, "Well I didn't expect to see you out here, boy! And all by your lonesome as well!" Don chuckled and glanced over to the terrified little girl he was holding on to. Poor Pearl looked as though she was about to throw up and then die from fright as she hung in midair by her wrist, shakily swinging her body weight back and forth in hopes of either loosening her captors grip or making him let go completely.

"And sorry kid! I need this squeaker for my own purposes!"

Luke twisted his face into the darkness scowl he could possibly make. He tried to hide the terror he could behind his glaring face, yet he could feel his stomach do flips inside as he could feel himself start to break out into a sweat despite the frigid cold outdoor temperature.

He couldn't even move, he was so scared, not to mention confused.

Why did he need Pearls? What could possibly be his motivation to kidnap a little girl? And how could he even hope to process what was going on here when he could hardly hear and comprehend whatever was being said?

Don looked down at Luke with a never-leaving grim smirk whilst he hoisted the girl up, wrapping his arm securely around her waist and held her to his side so he could stop her from trying to slip out of his grasp and from falling. Pearls let a petrified expression plaster itself on his face and she couldn't stop a strained whimper from slipping out of her tightening throat.

"Well this kids cousin is a spirit medium and head of her village. Certainly holding on to the little pipsqueak brat should probably get me some several thousand pounds or so. Besides, since the she is also a spirit medium, I could also converse with the dead and fulfil a personal goal of mine."

Pearl gasped in surprise and then started to squirm wildly to get away from him.

"N-No! I am not going to channel anyone for you! Spirit channelling is supposed to be used to help people a-and let others speak when th-th-they can't speak for th-themselves anymore!"

Luke's mind was twisting like a knot in a tricky shoe lace as the conversation was exchanged between captor and kidnapper, what they were talking about was so foreign to him that he could hardly keep himself from asking several questions at the very same time and it even gave him a slight oncoming migraine: What on earth were spirit mediums? How could that have anything to do with Pearl? What was spirit channelling? What did Pearl mean by "letting others speak when they can't speak for themselves anymore"?

Confused was an understatement to how Luke was feeling.

Don smirked wickedly, his long and over-exaggerated moustache curling just a little when that evil smile appeared on his lips, looking a trembling-with-fear Pearl right in the eyes. "Don't worry your pretty little head, little girl, you _will_ be helping someone: **me**!"

Pearl couldn't help but stop struggling when she heard that and tears started to swell up inside her eyes. She didn't want to be used like this because she just wanted to see her cousin again, she didn't want to cause her any grief but now it seemed that it was out of her hands. The little spirit medium looked down at the blue clad young gentleman with a petrified glance, silently pleading for him to help her like he had done a mere few minutes ago.

But Luke was frozen in place. Whether it was from the frigid outdoor temperature or from disbelief with what was happening right now, not even he could say. He didn't know what to do, he knew he had to do something but he just had no clue what he could do. Don Paolo, with his flying umbrella thingie, started to drift away from Luke and towards a totally different direction as they started to vanish from the boy's sight.

Pearl let out a harrowing cry and both her kidnapper and herself drifted away and vanished into the night quickly.

"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Luke couldn't help but feel frightened at this whole entire situation. His knees trembled, threatening to cave in, his palms became sweaty, his whole body just wouldn't stop shaking, his throat had tightened so he had trouble saying anything to respond to this as well as having trouble controlling his now erratic breathing and he was pretty sure that his eyes were welling up with full-on frightened tears.

Paolo had just taken Pearl away and no one was around to help. There was no professor, no Scotland Yard police, nobody whom he could turn to in order to get help. A dark and bitter cold realization struck as the boy felt his knees buckle right out from underneath of him so he dropped to the ground: there was absolutely nothing.

He was all alone.

Despite feeling afraid, the young boy knew that he couldn't just stand around and be a scaredy-cat. He had to go and rescue Pearl and if he had to do this all on his own then so be it! The duty of every gentleman is to always help young ladies in distress and where would the honour be if he could not come to the rescue of a beautiful young lady such as Pearly? He knew that there was no honour in abandoning her and so he knew that just running off to call an adult to the scene just wasn't an option right now. Plus he had to prove himself to her. He didn't know why, but he knew he had to.

He quickly reached up to touch his cap, shifted it around a bit, and quickly blinked away the tears that were pooling inside his rich obsidian eyes and threatening to spill over and trickle down his face. He had to be strong because he was not going to allow anyone to harm a beautiful hair on that lovely girl's head.

But what could _he_ do about it?

But that was when he noticed something gleaming brightly in the thick blanket of snow. From what he could tell, it looked priceless and interesting. He had to wonder whether this...thing (whatever it is) was what the girl who had just been taken away by one of his and the Professor's enemies?

Curious, the young gent fell to his knees and searched through the deep snow, shoveling and sifting it with his own two hands in hopes to unearth the sparkling thing. Luke dug around in the snow, alas it didn't take too long until he found out what it was: he came across a sky blue nine-shaped gem that had been buried there. His eyes widened in amazement upon seeing the wonderful glowing teal nine-shaped jewel and he realized that this was probably that special thing that Pearl had been looking for.

Now that he held it, he noticed that it looked a lot like that thing that Maya wore around her neck when he and the Professor met both her and Mr. Wright in Labyrinthia.

The comma shaped gem glowed brightly as he clutched it in his hand, minding not to crush it beneath his fingertips.

After finding the thing that Pearl long sought for, it filled the boy with a strong desire to return it to her. He could feel some sort of instant burst of bravery, this sudden passion burn inside of him.

It started burning away all huge amount of fear and cold he felt inside and giving him the willpower to make an attempt to get to his feet. It was tough since Luke's legs felt like stone after kneeling in the snow so much but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He managed to readjust his knees into a better position and he slowly used his own hands to push himself off of the ground and he had heaved himself to his own feet. His vision swayed a tad whenever he quickly gained his footing after climbing successfully to his feet and standing in a steadfast position. Luke tilted his head up slowly to look at the starry heavens above with a renewed determination burning in his narrowed eyes.

He clutched the jewel to his chest, pressing it right up against his beating heart.

Then, without much more hesitation, he took off like a dart.

He whirled around on the spot and made a frantic yet mad dash, running back from the direction in which he originally came, which also happened to have been the very same direction of where he saw Don take Pearly away.

Luke's feet drummed hard against the concrete, he was running so fast that he hardly had time to pick up his feet before his landing on the ground. His shoes kicked up snow and ice. There were occasions where he'd accidentally slip on some black ice but he quickly regained his footing and continued onwards, the young gentleman had to hold on to his special blue cap with one hand to keep it from blowing straight off of his head from the force of the blizzard that was just beginning to arise.

He felt his heart was pounding violently and his tummy clenched inward, and more then fifty thoughts dashed through his mind at once.

Those were the only things he could still sort of feel after his whole body had numbed due to the freezing outdoor temperatures. He was pretty sure that the tip of his nose was the one thing that he could still get any real sensation out of right now.

Where Don Paolo had taken Pearl, Luke didn't know but he knew that it was urgent that he found the young pretzel-haired girl.

And he _would_ find her somehow.

Of course, the young apprentice gentleman still had no knowledge of where he was going so he just ran around blindly in extremely desperate hope of bumping into some sort of clue or stumbling by them by accident -or maybe even finding the police if he was lucky.

He could hear a voice in his head, Professor Layton's voice, reminding him in a calm tone of voice that a gentleman didn't run around like a headless chicken -especially one without a plan like this. But right now he was just throwing all he had learnt into the wind because it surprised him to realise that he was not even thinking about it much at all -being a gentleman wasn't on his list of priorities.

Pearl was.

The realisation was so shocking that he was forced to stop suddenly in his tracks.

Usually his head would almost always be in his mentor's teachings; apart from the regular thoughts of a normal eleven-year-old. There were those rare instances. But now the safety of a girl he had only just met was his top priority. He had to ask himself, _why?_ Why go so far for someone who he just met? Of course, he knew the answer: it's what a true gentleman would do...but Luke felt that there was more to it then just that.

He released a long trembly breath he hadn't even been aware he had been withholding, the breath manifesting as smoke due to the freezing cold air around, he hugged his own arms and clenched his teeth as he tried not to shiver like a maraca. The young gentleman sighed again and made a small note to himself.

"After I find Pearl and get home, I'm making myself some tea and bundling myself up in the warmest blanket I can find."

Fighting to keep warm, and in an attempt to continue searching for Pearl, he started to run again.

Luke bounded across the roads, with his eyes squinted through the icy slivers of wind that whistled in his ears in high pitched whispers, threatening to blow him back when the gusts started to become powerful gale force winds. He tightly clutched the glowing gem inside his hand which was starting to go numb due to how long he had been outside in the harsh weather, being careful not to crush it but also being careful not to let it slip right through his very cold fingertips.

He let a small moan slip as soon as the bitter cold started to slowly eat away at his willpower and his energy. He closed his eyes and his teeth chattered, his footsteps started to become clumsy and stumbled.

But then, by some sort of miracle, his ears caught a distant sound being carried over to his sharp ears by the very same winds that constantly threatened to stall his urgent mission to rescue the beautiful young damsel in distress (he secretly hoped that Pearl wouldn't smack him for thinking that).

Thinking quickly, Luke changed his blind route and ran over to the direction of those sounds that got louder and louder the closest he had became. He hurried and ran as quick as his legs could carry him despite that he felt like he was a snowman with legs.

Skidding to a screeching halt, Luke looked up at a trio of gull that were perched on a lamppost above him. With his lungs begging for sweet oxygen, Luke knelt forwards to touch his shaking knees as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up from his knees and asked the small flock breathlessly, "Have...Have you...three seen a...girl and a man with a...huge moustache...a-anywhere?"

At first they looked at the human boy with great perplexity and confusion, their little beady eyes were quite telling of their emotions. Then they looked to each other as though looking for an answer to the question that was just asked of them and all Luke could do in the meantime was pray that they saw anything strange that could lead him to where he needed to go.

He feared that if they didn't help him then something terrible would happen.

The birds chattered amongst themselves, chirping and squawking to each other as though processing the young human's inquiry, for a moment before one of the three raised its little beady eyes and jerked its head towards the direction back towards a certain monument. To emphatically make its point, a gull even made a silent gesture with its left wing.

Luke tipped his blue cap to the bird trio in a gesture of gratitude and then shook himself to rid himself of the ice and snowflake remnants that had started to cloak him in its frigid grasp. It made him feel a bit lighter to have all the excess snow covering him. Of course there were still a few snowflakes that had become stuck to him, covering him like powder but he didn't have time to fret about that. Then, when all the heavier clumps of snow was off of him, his feet started to skitter before his brain had the time to officially give them permission to move.

Then he broke into yet another sprint in the direction of where the three gull had pointed him towards. He had hoped that the birds would be able to provide assistance in this time of need and he was happy that he was right! thus now he had a good idea where Don Paolo had taken Pearls.

The three gull had confirmed it whilst they were chatting to each other for confirmation earlier.

Thanks to them, he now had all the pieces to the answer of this puzzle: Where had Pearl been taken?

The young cap-wearing gentleman continued to hold on tight to the small blue accessory on his head with a strength he didn't know he even had. He hastened down a few streets, minding the very few people walking by whom shot him really weird looks, with his mouth hung open as he breathed deeply to get some more oxygen into his deflated and rather crystallised lungs. He ran so fast that he didn't even care if he slipped over some ice, each exhale he took ended up with a warm frosty fog manifesting from his breath.

Luke ran down the pathway and felt like the path in front of him stretched on and on right in front of his eyes, getting further and further with each step he took. It felt as though an eternity whirled right on by the time he had finally reached his destination.

The young apprentice gentleman eventually stopped right in front of its grand doors and he felt so tired that he very almost collapsed due to exhaustion. He panted heavily and tried to catch his breath so he could function properly in a minute. He breathed in heavily in wheezes, spluttering and coughing, his lungs heavy and chest tight.

As he tried to recover, he took in all the details of his surroundings.

The deep snow was now reaching up to his shins and, despite his coat, he felt so very cold otherwise the front gates where the first thing that greeted him and Luke shuddered even though he was panting and huffing to regain his bearings. The front gates were dark and big, the metal looked all twisted and black but with a few golden touches. They were some of the biggest gates he'd seen and they looked sort of spooky, especially at night.

Behind the gates was a familiar but very tall building, Luke felt so small and insignificant standing in front of it. He knew very well that Pearl and her kidnapper were at the very top. It was sort of intimidating, if he were to be perfectly honest with himself since he had been to this place with the Professor on a previous case and he couldn't help but feel so very...little.

one of the most famous London landmarks in all the world -the huge clock tower, known as Big Ben.

Luke shuddered inwardly while a small chill climbed up his spine, the muscles in his shoulders bunched up and his arms tingled with trepidation. A cold sweat started to soak through his palms and his forehead before he released one hand from his knee, raised an arm and then whipped some of the sheening sweat from his brow. He swept a bit of his dirty blonde fringe aside too. Admittedly, Luke sort of wanted to get this over with quickly so he could get Pearl and go home to the Professor and warm both himself and her by the fireplace.

It took a short minute until the young boy finally regained his breath (or at least enough to keep himself going) and he straightened out his own posture, especially his back, but he couldn't help but quake in his shoes because of the daunting atmosphere the huge and famous clock tower gave.

Luke closed his eyes. Now was not the time to be afraid, he needed to be brave. There was absolutely no way he was going to back down now and he wasn't going to let himself cry or show how frightened he was. He couldn't.

He made a solemn vow to himself right then and there, shoving the mystical nine-shaped blue jewel-thing into his pocket.

He looked up and stared up at Big Ben, hurting the back of his neck in the process, with a sharp sword-like glint in his eyes. Although he felt little intimidated by doing this by himself and he was at Big Ben without the Professor at his side, he refused to turn back now; especially as he had come so far. He had to get to Pearl and do whatever he could to rescue his new friend from the clutches of Don Paolo...and return her seemingly priceless gem to her.

"Hold on, Pearl, I'm coming."

* * *

 **A/N: Second chapter of this is up! Sorry this took a bit long, theres been stuff happening. This was originally supposed to be a two-shot but I changed my mind and decided to make it a bit longer. I hope that you guys like this chapter and hopefully Luke can be a hero of the beautiful young Pearly Fey from Don Paolo.**

 **Please review and fave and tell me what you think.**

 **-Chloemcg**


	3. Part 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Professor Layton or Ace attorney franchises, the rights to both of them belong to Capcom and Level-5.**

 **A gentleman's pearl**

* * *

Luke didn't waste anymore time.

He scrambled upwards in his climb as he made a frantic rush up the staircase, his lungs felt as though someone was sitting on top of them and forcing them to deflate like a pair of two-day-old balloons that were small and somewhat poofy. His chest hurt, his ribs rattled, his stomach tightened, a sheen of sweat soaked his brow, he gasped for air through tightly-clenched teeth and his jaw wrenched tightly.

He knew that he had to rescue Pearl from whatever scheme Paolo had for her, even if it got him into trouble he had to help her; if he didn't then he knew that he would have regretted it for the rest of his life.

Pearl was worth saving, and he refused to let her get hurt by some evil madman.

The young gentleman apprentice felt his hamstrings strain and pull as he made a mad dash up the endless staircase, the soles of his shoes slamming against the creaking floorboards as he raced to get to Don Paolo and Pearly in time. He could feel veins violently pulsate against his neck and head, his own sweat drenched every pore and his jaw actually started to ache from being so tight as he ran faster then he ever thought he possibly could, he was sure that he was bound to get some sort of muscle strain from all this running or he might have even tripped up the stairs.

It felt like a whole eternity flew right on by before he had finally made it, but he suddenly found himself stopping when he heard a pair of familiar voices.

Luke skidded to a halt suddenly and pressed his back towards the wall as he stood right next to an open doorway that led to the rooftop and scaffolding of Big Ben, he panted heavily to catch his breath. He could feel the bitter cold of the wintry night seep in through the open-door-shaped mould that led to the clock tower rooftop balcony, thus allowing just a bit of snow to come in. He knew that he had to be very, very careful here; he didn't want to inadvertently cause any upset to this delicate situation.

Thus, he decided to take a quick listen so he could properly assess what was happening now, what he heard was Don yelling at Pearl and there was clear aggravation in his voice as he demanded angrily.

"Channel her for me right now, you pipsqueak brat!"

The aggressive tone of voice Don Paolo used was almost enough to make Luke shudder from fear, his blood became as cold as the snowflakes that fell from the sky. He always felt intimidated whenever he would hear such a cold and nasty voice and it would almost always bring a tear of plain fright to his eye whenever he imagined that sort of vocal tone being used on him in any way, shape or form.

But then it struck him what Don had just said. Her? Whose her? Which her could he be referring to? It was all like a big mystery to him, a big curious mystery.

The boy turned his head while he shuffled closer to the doorway and just kept listening to the conversation that was being tossed back and forth like some sort of game of catch that was being shot at by his and Professor Layton's nemesis and his little hostage. Alas He jerked in shock when he heard the normally quiet Pearl shout back at her captor and there was a definite defiant tone in her voice as she yelled at him stubbornly, as though she was explaining her argument for the billionth time.

"I told you already! I can't channel anyones spirit without my Magatama or a name and a face!"

Don Paolo let out an irritated screech through gritted teeth, and he scowled hotly at the young girl with steam practically blowing from his ears as his reddening face tightened and his moustache bristled out of pure rage.

"Stop stalling, you little pest, and tell me what the Magatama looks like then!"

"No!" Pearl scowled back, but the tears were starting to gleam in her eyes as she bit her lip to try and keep it from betraying her own fears to him. She was totally petrified of him but she refused to let herself do this meanie's evil bidding, she had been used as a pawn before and she wasn't going to let it happen again! She promised herself this! "Wh-Why should I?"

The young spirit medium with the pretzel-shaped bun started to shake and tremble frantically as she felt the genius squeeze her arm tighter and raised her a bit higher than before and son found herself dangling over the edge of Big Ben, she could see that below her was a very long way down along with a brilliant splendour of golden nighttime lights that decorated the clock tower and the ground far below. Her eyes widened and her lips started to quiver as the tears rolled down her face like little waterfalls.

"I'm not in the habit of threatening kids, but you are really getting on my nerves! If you keep refusing then I might just let go of you."

"N-No! Please don't!"

"JUST CHANNEL CLAIRE FOLEY, YOU PATHETIC SNIVELLING BRAT!"

The young apprentice gentleman paused when he heard those words. Claire? He had never heard that name before...but for some strange reason he felt that he should have known it. Was this the reason why Don Paolo kidnapped Pearl -allegedly someone who can physically manifest a dead soul? Was it so he could see this _'Claire'_ again...? But he then started to recall back to a certain case that both himself and the good Professor went on. That "Eternal diva" case with the late Melina Whistler, Janice, Oswald Whistler, young Nina. He remembered the unfortunate results of trying to bring somebody back to life and, for a moment, he actually felt bad for the evil genius bloke.

For a single solitary moment he felt as though he could actually sympathise with him.

But despite these conflicting emotions, he knew that he couldn't simply let the young pretzel-haired damsel be bullied like this -especially by some madman. He gathered all his courage and stomped right around the corner and spoke three simple words in a low tone but sharp command:

"LET HER GO!"

Don and Pearl both turned to face the boy in unison and stared at him dumbfoundedly.

Still tired from running up the stairs, Luke panted although his gasped exhales came out as a thick mist due to the low wintry temperature. His shoulders had sagged and were heaving up and down with each deep breath, and his kneecaps shook and his fingers had furled inwards into a pair of frost-bitten, tightly-clenched fists.

But what he hardly realised was that his sudden arrival had startled Don into actually doing what he said in the absolute worst way possible by loosening his grip on the girl's wrist -letting Pearl go by complete accident.

Don Paolo panicked for a brief moment as he watched the young girl fall from his grasp, his eyes were wide and his mouth was an open-mouthed frown while a soundless yet mangled scream strained itself from his entangled vocal chords. He felt his black heart freeze within his chest when a pang of panic hit him like a ton of bricks, he thought that he could feel gravity itself crush him on the inside as punishment for what he just did. Everything moved in slow motion for him, he hadn't meant to let her go! He just wanted to intimidate her so he could force her to use her powers! He watched with stunned eyes full of disbelief while he looked around to try and find a way to escape this nightmarish ordeal.

What had he done!?

Too stunned to even move, he simply stood there with an empty stunned expression while the Professor's protege gained his bearings.

Luke couldn't believe what had just happened, his heart had just stopped dead in his chest. Pearl just fell! Dread overcame him as he looked as equally panicked as Don Paolo and he scrambled forwards and quickly, completely forgetting about the remorseful-looking villain, and he leaned over the railing.

He had done it so quickly that he almost slipped and fell off himself and then quickly peered over the railings of the clock tower top stairs platform as he prayed that the young girl was alright.

When he looked, a huge mix of relief and fright washed over him like a huge ocean wave overlapping some puny little waves. Pearl seemed to have been _very_ fearful but alright. In a desperate bid to save herself from falling to her death, Pearl managed to grab one of the clock hands. She blanched severely and couldn't stop shaking as she stared right up into the young gentleman's chubby face with her whole body visibly trembling.

Luke couldn't help but start trembling himself as the pupils inside his eyes shrunk into tiny dots in mortification. He called out to her in desperation, "PEARLY!"

He quickly leaned further down with his arms stretching downwards desperately to try and latch on to the dangling medium's hands, which gripped the clock hand so hard that her fingernails were starting to rip straight through her woolly mitten gloves. He focused his eyes on Pearl but he could see the petrifying height that he was at and he couldn't help but get dizzy from vertigo.

The young gentleman swallowed a huge marble that formed in his throat as he reached for the helpless eight-year-old.

"L-Luuuke!"

Pearl's call was left with an echoed undertone as she clung on for dear life. Her eyes watered with tears as she gripped tightly and stubbornly to the clock hand with all her might. But she looked up and noticed the young blue cap-wearing's inviting hands that awaited her and she found herself desperately wanting to grab hold of them yet afraid to do so. Her lip trembled and quivered fearfully as she tried not to let her deathly fright show itself on her paling face.

Luke swallowed that lump, trying not to let his own fear show, and he tried to reassure her as he smoothed the fear from his face and forced the softest expression to appear on his face as he called down to poor young spirit medium.

"P-Pearl! Hold on to me! I promise that I won't let you fall!"

Despite the fact that she was petrified with fear, she couldn't help but feel her own heartbeat accelerate...but it wasn't from just fear alone -that was just a small part of the reason her heart was racing. She couldn't explain why her heart was thumping so much and she couldn't help but look up into his face. She stopped shaking when she stared into his eyes and saw naught but heartfelt sincerity inside them, as well as the same fear she felt.

She decided to try and shove her terror aside and she reluctantly released one hand from the clock and squeaked with fear when she started to completely lose her hold on the tower. She couldn't help it as she quickly shot it up towards Luke and she reached upwards in an attempt to grab the hand that was outstretched towards her, but she could feel as her vision started to tunnel and her consciousness faded.

Suddenly she found her remaining strengths and launched herself upwards in a jump and gripped Luke's hand as tightly as she possibly could and her other hand soon followed and sheld on to **both** the young gentleman's hands, trying not to let herself dangle too much from his arms. She gripped Luke's hands even tighter out of desperation, squeezing her teary eyes shut as she finally felt herself succumb to the cold that had been eating away at her poor body ever since she had left the warmth and safety of her beloved cousin.

After all, she had been outside in the snow for a _very long time_.

Luke felt the same icy cold dread he felt moments before return tenfold when he saw Pearly become limp as she hung heavily from his hands like a sack of potatoes. His eyes widened. Had she just passed out!? What was the matter with her now!? He knew right then that he had to pull her up to safety right now! And then he grit his teeth as he felt his poor arms start to become like pegs on a clothes line, he could feel the strain burn at his muscles like an intense inferno.

It hurt a lot.

The boy could hear his own shoes screech as he pulled desperately at her unconscious form, but he started to slide forth and he could feel the strong gusts of frigid winds tussle his dirty blonde hair and then threaten to blow off his signature blue newspaper cap. The young gent in dressed blue growled effortfully during his struggle until he found a sudden strength that burst up and out from nowhere. He had no idea how he had unearthed it or where it had been throughout his life but he knew that he was truly blessed to have found it when he had, otherwise he would have fallen over the edge along with the girl he was trying so desperately to save.

 _'Come...on...!'_

His mind screamed, trying to coach his muscles to continue the fight.

"Huff...Huff...HNNNG!" He gave one last effort as he yanked back with all of his might, resisting gravity itself as he kept his grip tight on the limp pretzel-haired damsel-in-distresses hands and started to drag her back up over the safety railing, his face tight in pain and vigour while he hefted the poor young lady back to the top of Big Ben and properly to safety.

He was so exhausted that he almost completely collapsed in both relief and overwhelming fatigue.

Luke dropped to his knees, heaving and gasping desperately for breath, with Pearl unconscious in his arms that had been left so strained that they were practically noodles as he flopped down to the cold hard ground of the top of the famous London clock tower. His lungs begged for sweet oxygen and the young boy felt as though his legs or arms would never, ever work again.

It was as though every single last drop of his energy had been spent.

It was a miracle he was even still awake right now!

He had no idea how long he had been laying on the top of Big Ben but it felt like a whole eternity went by before the boy could even muster a shred of energy to sit up so he could finally check on his unconscious patient.

Pulling her into a sitting up posture, he started to re-position her.

Luke clung on to the unconscious young spirit medium in his embrace, holding the upper half of her fragile body close as she was a bit too heavy for him to hold up without his shaking arm muscles protesting out of pain. He held her delicately as he looked down at her with tears of his own starting to swell in his eyes once again. He couldn't deny that what had just happened was one frightening thing, he couldn't stop trembling from the rush of adrenaline that pumped through his body.

Yet the young girl looked so beautiful...so angelic...

However it was still very cold thus Luke held Pearl even closer to him and tried to let his body-heat seep through his jacket so it would warm up her frail and unconscious form. Her head drooped sideways so her ear was resting right against his chest where his heart was and she stirred just a bit in her comatose-like state. He cradled her still form against him as he tried to gently wake her up, taking off one of his gloves and then proceeding to give a feather-light rub on the top of her head while he called her name.

"P-Pearly? Pearls?"

A familiar cackling laugh broke him from his concentration and Luke averted his gaze to a certain evil genius.

Don Paolo smirked and gave a mock bow as he stepped off of the edge of the building and leapt into his flying helicopter-like contraption with surprising preciseness and athleticism. He hopped into the front seat and started to make his hovercraft fly off away from the small gentleman and his unconscious damsel-in-distress.

Luke scowled, lay Pearl on the ground quickly but gently, and rushed towards Don with flames of anger in his deep-as-an-abyss obsidian eyes. He wasn't going to let Paolo get away with this, especially not with hurting Pearls!

Anger pumped through his blood adrenaline rushed through his body.

"Hey! Come back here, you!" He cried angrily, skidding to a halt right at the edge of the tower and being forced to watch with furious eyes as the evil genius flew off into the cold bleak wintry/springtime night. The grown man's voice rang in his ears. But what he heard was not a promise of revenge like it would normally be, instead what he heard was something so shocking that he was almost certain that he was hearing things.

"The pipsqueak was useless anyway but you better take care of her for now! I'll be baaaaack!"

Luke was left stunned. What did the baddie mean by that? Why did he care since he was the enemy here? He couldn't wrap his head around it, even if he wished for it with all his might, and quite frankly it was giving him a rather big migraine just trying to wrack his brains for answers to this puzzle.

He didn't really understand madmen like Don Paolo even if he solved all the puzzles in the universe...

Then he quickly returned his attention to Pearl whom was still laying on the floor where he had left her, unconscious and limp but breathing. He pressed the back of his hand gently against Pearl's forehead and realised that she felt a bit on the hot feverish side and he could feel himself break into a cold sweat when he started to panic. Tears accumulated inside of his eyes, his lips quivered and his knuckles started to turn white as he gripped her shoulders and started to shake her back and forward in an attempt to get her to awaken once again.

He started to plead with her.

"P-Pearl! P-P-Please! O-Open your eyes, I got your thing!"

He somehow kept her sitting upright and leaning against his chest as he reached into his coat pocket and produced the Magatama from within; the pale blue gem glowed brilliantly through the snowflakes that drifted around it, it pierced the dark with its bright illuminating light but there was no sign of movement from her.

Luke started to fear the worst.

His lower lip started to tremble and his eyes started to water, leaking right through and trailing down his cheeks like little rivers. Thanks to the cold the tears felt more like little daggers digging into and piercing his cheeks -even though his skin was really starting to feel numb due to the long-time exposure to the cold outdoors. He could swear that he could feel his own heart break in half and then drop into his stomach like a stone sinking in water. His hands started trembling as he held Pearl and cuddled her frail body against his own chest.

No...she couldn't be dead...she just couldn't be...!

"Pearl...Pearl...p-p-please...! Please d-don't die!" He pleaded, choking back on a few sobs, "I...I want to g-get to know y-you...! You c-c-can't go! Y-Your cousin and Mr. Wright will be devastated, Pearl! I-It can't end this waaay!"

Erratic breaths slipped from his lungs, his heart felt like it was about to explode, the tears in his eyes cascaded down his cheeks, and a pang of despair hit him as hard as a smack to the face. He failed, he had failed her. He had swore to himself that he would rescue Pearl but it seemed that he was too late.

Luke broke down and hugged Pearl and held her as tight as he could and he spent his tears of remorse -the tears he cried dripped on to his hands and arms but each one felt like little knives piercing his skin. His blue cap shielded most of his facial features thanks to the blackness of the cold night, but it didn't hide his tears of sadness.

He froze mid-sob when he felt something start to shift in his arms.

At first he dismissed it as his imagination, it couldn't possibly be the now lifeless girl that was in his arms. It was after the second time that he started to become mystified as he quickly pulled her away from himself and stared at her in a mix of awe and hope.

Could it be...?

Could it possibly be...?

Pearl's closed eyelids twitched softly with life as she gently moaned under her breath and then her warm brown eyes sparkled like diamonds in a disco light as she opened them and finally looked up at Luke. A small smile graced her lips as a ripe cherry hue of red tinted her cheeks, her eyes watered once more. She oh-so gently took Luke's cold hand into hers and interlaced her fingers with his, lacing them together so both hands fit together like two halves of a jig-saw puzzle.

Her next words came out as sort of a trembly whisper.

"Th-Thank you, L-Luke..."

Luke couldn't help but smile, despite the tears that continued to spill down his cheeks. He cuddled the frail and shivering Pearl close to him to keep her warm as he gently gave her what he assumed was this "Magatama"-thingie and watched with a warm grin as she held it in her hands and stared at it with the purest form of relief.

Pearl lay in his arms weakly, staring up into the young apprentice gentleman's reddened face. Then, without wasting another second, the young spirit medium found all her strength and launched herself right at him so her arms were looped around his neck and she started to attack Luke's cheeks and treat them as kissing targets. She started to cry with her own brand of relief.

Luke was stupefied and completely caught off guard that he was now being assaulted with kisses, his emotions were going haywire now that he was blessed with the knowledge that the young girl was alive. But now it was his turn for his cheeks to take on a vibrant shade of red. He couldn't help but hold back a smile when he was overcome by that warm fuzzy feeling inside his chest again and he basked in the young spirit medium's love.

"Y-You're my hero...!"

She hugged him tight yet Pearl sneezed abruptly, suddenly breaking away and unfurling her arms from the stunned and disbelieving cap-wearing apprentice gentleman's neck. "ACHOO!" Then she noticed that a tissue was being offered to her by the very polite young but very noble gent and took it before she blew her snotty nose on it and Luke just kept that same silly smile plastered on his lips, he had tucked away inside that tissue in his sleeve just encase such a need for it had arose.

But the young couple's eyes widened in unison when they heard a voice yell up at them, words being slightly muffled by both the height and the cold winds. Neither of them could decipher it properly but they could definitely sense a cross undertone from it and it made the both of them flinch with fear when they both recalled that they were both probably going to have their ears yelled off for this. Upon looking down from their rooftop perch, they could see a couple of police cars (and an ambulance) down below as well as a small crowd of people. Even though they were so high up, they could see that one of the forms was definitely Maya Fey whom the voice belonged to thanks to the clothes she wore -they could see the professor and the Phoenix amongst the crowd.

It wasn't until (apparently) Maya grabbed what appeared to be a megaphone and then yelled into it so Luke and Pearl could hear her despite their frost-bitten ears.

"PEARL, LUKE, GET DOWN HERE!"

Both children flinched at the volume of her shriek.

Now it was time for them to face the music.

* * *

 **A/N: I went to the Hyper Japan convention in London during the weekend, it was okay but not as good compared to last year. I did get a sight seeing tour of London afterwards and it was awesome! Anyways, after I finished with this fic (the finale is the next chapter) I will get to my 100th Fanfiction.**

 **I hope you guys are ready for the next chapter, I'm working hard on it.**

 **Btw, ITS THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS GUYS! WHOOOOO!**

 **-Chloemcg**


	4. Final part

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Professor Layton or Ace attorney franchises, the rights to both of them belong to Capcom and Level-5.**

 **A gentleman's pearl**

* * *

It was quite intense.

Pearl had returned her precious Magatama to its rightful place hung around her neck as a feeling of fear and cautious trepidation came over both herself and Luke as they awaited for some members of the rescue team to reach them, they couldn't help but fear for the outright screaming that awaited them down below. They were sure that the yelling would be so loud that it would melt their poor eardrums into puddles and it was because of the chilly frigid winds that blew that the two could hear the siren of a fire engine blaring.

The scene was terrifying.

Pearl couldn't help but clutch Luke's hand tightly, causing his poor fingertips to go swollen and red due to loss of blood flow...and the fact that they had been exposed to the cold for so long might have had something to do with it. Luke, in the meantime, looked to Pearls with a forced smile in an attempt to calm her, trying to give her some reassurance; alas he couldn't help but recall Maya's angry screeching from a minute ago...just remembering such an enraged tone made him shudder even more than he already was because of the wintry numbing cold.

It was truly daunting to think about.

They never heard Maya yell like that.

Not even 10 minutes had passed before Luke and Pearls were able to scale down the roof of Big Ben and slowly clamber downwards so they could get into a position where the firemen rescue team would be able to use their huge and lengthy fire engine ladder to reach them. Luke seized a tight grip on to Pearly's wrist as he gently pulled her in the direction of a safer spot on the ginormous famous clock tower, they looked down to see that there was a man on a fire engine ladder slowly raising himself up so he could reach them.

It felt like an eternity had passed before the man was able to reach them well enough that he could meet them on eye level. Without a single word, the firemen each scooped them up and then carried the both of them in each arm.

It took awhile to lower them to safety.

Down below, standing there, patiently waiting for the two to come down, were Phoenix Wright with his partner, Maya Fey, and the famous Professor Layton...the _real_ one. They were all dressed in their jammies and they wore slippers on their feet as they observed patiently while both Luke and Pearl were gradually brought to the ground. Each of them seemed anxious to reunite with the two children.

But it was worth noting that Maya looked both excited and angry at the same time.

Lowering the two to the snowy ground, the fireman whom rescued the two went over to a nearby ambulance and had come back a minute later, bringing back an emergency paramedic lady whom checked each of them over for injuries. She knelt down beside both Luke and Pearl and examined them both thoroughly but gently as to not frighten them, she encouraged and comforted them as she done this. When she finished her examination, she nodded over to the trio of adults whom rushed over to the children and ambulance woman.

"Are they okay?" Phoenix asked the woman in concern.

The woman nodded "They seem okay, but they are in danger of contracting Hypothermia and they each have signs of having colds."

Phoenix, the Professor nor Maya didn't like the part about the Hypothermia but they were all relieved to see that both Luke and Pearl were otherwise okay...albeit a tad coldy, but still. They all turned their attention to both the young apprentice gentleman and the small medium -they just stood quietly while they were suddenly crowded.

The first to react was Maya.

Maya quickly ran up to Pearl and hugged her in a tight squeeze, so tight that Pearl's eyes went huge and her head almost exploded from the pressure. Pearl couldn't help but gasp and let loose a startled yelp when she tried to get her enthusiastic cousin to loosen her death grip on her. She lightly slapped Mystic Maya's arm to get her to release her tight grasp but it wasn't working even though she was using whatever oxygen she had remaining inside her lungs to squeeze out a wheezy, "Let me go, Mystic Maya! C-Can't breathe!"

Then the master spirit medium-to-be loosened her hold on her younger cousin but Pearl looked up and didn't like seeing that Mystic Maya's facial features hardened and her jaw wrenched, the atmosphere stiffened. Pearl's head ducked softly in between her shoulders and her eyes widened, her pupils enlarged to make her resembled a kicked puppy; she didn't like that look in his eyes.

Maya glared at her cousin and then proceeded to plop her back down on the snowy ground and then she wagged a chastising finger over her to emphasise her displeasure for such behaviour out of the little girl with pretzel hair.

"Pearl Morgana Fey, you are in HUGE trouble! You went outside on your own in the middle of the night - _without permission,_ I might add- in a place you hardly know and in such low temperatures so you would probably get lost and then freeze to death!"

Pearl popped her thumb into her mouth and nibbled on the fingernail, then she piped up despite knowing she really shouldn't during Mystic Maya's lecture. "Umm...I figured that since we both train in freezing cold temperatures, i-it doesn't affect us as much—"

"Don't you sass me, young lady! You just earned yourself extra time on your grounding! Do you have any idea how much you worried me and worried Nick? Did you even think about that as you just decided to galavant off on your own? How did you even plan on getting back? Were you even thinking at all when you walked out of the hotel completely unsupervised!? You know some bad guy could've kidnapped you and I could've never seen you ever again! How could you do that to me, Pearly?!"

Pearl didn't stop looking down at the snowy ground below in shame, each and every word felt like someone had shoved a dagger straight through her chest and stabbed her repeatedly in the heart. Everything Mystic Maya said were very good points and she couldn't help but acknowledge that. Her big brown eyes started to tear up and her lower lip quivered in guilt and her body started to tremble, especially when she heard Mystic Maya's voice crack due gut-wrenching emotions spilling out her mouth.

Pearl's eyes watered and she felt so ashamed of herself.

She hadn't wanted to worry Mystic Maya so much but she knew that she had to find her Magatama and if she had told Mystic Maya about losing it then she would probably be so disappointed in her...alas it seemed that she was disappointed in her right now either way. A part of her wanted to argue in her own defence...but she thought against it, it would probably get her in more trouble anyway.

She stood there shivering and quivering, her eyes stuck to the snow beneath her feet. She found the ground much better to look at then at Maya's angered facial expression; she wasn't used to seeing such a face on Maya -certainly she saw mock anger from the spirit channelling master where she puffs out her cheeks and pouts comically, but this was deep and serious anger...and she frankly didn't like seeing her cousin this way, even though she knew she deserved this deep down.

"So?" Maya asked impatiently, glaring down at Pearl, "Don't you have anything to say?"

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Luke felt a strange surge of protectiveness ignite inside of him.

He understood that Maya had been worried sick but Pearl didn't need to be yelled at like this because she only went out to look for that thingy she had lost in the snow outside and everything else that had transpired had been completely out of her control. He really didn't like the idea of yelling at Maya, since she's one of his friends, but he wasn't about to let Pearly get scolded for something like this! He instantly tensed up and his face twisted in anger and fury. He didn't like hearing Maya use such a harsh tone with her sweet young cousin...her sweet, beautiful, enchanting, imaginative, timid, kind-hearted cousin.

The professor's apprentice clenched his fists and stepped forwards whilst opening his mouth in preparation to defend Pearl...but then he was cut off by Pearl breaking off into hysterical crying.

"WAAAAAAAAHHH! I'M SORRY, M-MYSTIC MAYA! I'M SO SORRY!" Pearl wailed, suddenly leaping up and throwing her arms around Maya's neck.

Maya almost lost her balance and fell forwards thanks to the surprise extra weight and she, while also teary-eyed, gently straightened out her posture and she could feel her scowl soften considerably as she furled both of her arms around Pearl to return the tight hug and she couldn't help but nuzzle her face lovingly into her cousin's brown hair (minding her pretzel-shaped bun as she done so) and she murmured comforting words into her ears.

The two Fey cousins said nothing as they just hugged one another silently and letting each other absorb each other's love and affection like sponges.

Even Phoenix seemed to be a bit emotional watching this.

Maya rubbed Pearly's back soothingly, "I'm glad your safe, Pearly, I really am -but what you did was dangerous and you getting held hostage tonight proved it. You're far too young to be out this late and by yourself so that's why I'm grounding you. I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt. Understand?"

Pearl could only give a tearful sniffle as she gave the smallest of nods as she buried her tear-stained face into her cousin's shoulder, mumbling an "Uh huh" as she did. Her cheeks were redder than strawberries and her lip wouldn't stop trembling with the purest form of relief and fright, she gripped on tightly to Maya as though she was her lifeline -she refused to let her go just yet. She could feel Maya rub her back soothingly as she pulled her left arm free and wiped her sleeve across her face to dry her own tears.

It felt rather embarrassing to be cuddled like a baby but she couldn't help but feel comforted thanks to the hug.

A full minute passed before a sudden sound disturbed the silence.

"Achoo!"

That sneeze sounded like a cute little squeak rather then an actual full-blown sneeze. It was so cute that Maya had to resist the urge to actually gush over how adorable it was! But she couldn't help but look down at the source of the sneeze and break Pearl away from the hug, holding her out in front of her. Poor Pearly was starting to look pale and her eyelids were starting to fall from exhaustion. She snuffled.

Maya hefted Pearl over her shoulder as she turned to look at the lawyer stood behind her.

"Okay, we better get back to our hotel. Right, Nick?"

"Uuugh..." That moan made Maya look harder at the spiky-haired attorney in blue and she saw that he was looking quite ill himself. The tip of Phoenix's nose and his cheeks had reddened considerably and a little trail of mucus dribbled from his left nostril, he looked as pale as a mattress and he was shivering as though he had been stuck in a giant ice cube for a millennia. Phoenix was _always_ getting colds since he was easily susceptible to getting them -seriously he got them every time he spends even ten minutes out in the snow!

Seeing her friend like this caused Maya to roll her eyes at him, still holding Pearl in her arms. "Oh boy. Do we need to give you your cold medicine, Nick?"

Phoenix nodded feebly with his teeth chattering due to the cold. Like Pearl, he ducked his head in between his shoulders and hugged himself tightly to keep himself warm; his knees were trembling and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up like his jet black, sleek spikes of hair.

Maya smiled and then spun on her feet and turned to face the Professor. The top-hatted gentleman had been patiently watching the exchange between cousins and friends and the spirit medium smiled happily and gratefully at the English gentleman, "Thanks for helping us find Pearls, Professor."

The Professor nodded his head and tipped his top hat to her, his breath a thick fog as he exhaled. "You are very welcome, Miss Fey.

Luke looked up at his mentor with confusion. It was the Professor who found them? That made him think of something as he decided to reach up and tugged on Professor Layton's sleeve, sort of like when they first met and he asked (or begged) to be his apprentice and to learn from him. This got the Professor's attention as he looked down at the young boy questioningly. "Yes, my boy? What is it?"

"How did you know where we are anyway?" Luke asked, tilting his head to one side.

The Professor smiled and answered the question whilst putting both hands behind his back. "Well, I realised something was wrong when you didn't return in time for your curfew. So I decided to go to the park to see if you were there, when I got there I saw Don Paolo posing as me luring you and young Pearl elsewhere and when I saw how you cleverly exposed him and then chased after Pearl, I called Mr. Wright and told both him and the authorities to meet me at Big Ben."

Luke looked down at his own two feet, a bright red colour decorating his cheeks of embarrassment but happiness for the praise of how he'd figured out that Don Paolo was disguising himself as the Professor. He should have known that the Professor would have followed him anyway, he was one of the smartest men in the whole wide world after all...at least that's what he believed.

Maya nodded her head in agreement, continuing the story quickly, "The Professor overheard a little of your conversation, or at least the part where Pearly told you that she was with us, and quickly phoned us after the guy abducted her, so we rushed on over and _here we are_!"

The boy couldn't help but be slightly inspired by the explanation -he hadn't expected the Professor to care for him so much, same with Mr. Wright and Maya! He just couldn't keep a gigantic smile from appearing on his face as he took in what he was just told. It actually warmed his heart up and he almost felt a little teary-eyed. It was nice to know that, even without knowing it, he still had a little bit of help with his big independent rescue mission.

Maya matched the smile Luke wore and bowed in gratitude, thankful that he had rescued his beloved cousin, then she started to carry Pearly off back to the hotel they were staying at when suddenly...

" **HOLD IT**!"

Everyone froze and turned to face the source of the loud exclamation.

Pearl looked up at the grownup spirit medium with eyes huge, red and puffy from all the crying she had done earlier. "I need to do something,"

Without a word, Maya lowered little Pearly down and plopped her on to her own two feet. The small spirit medium turned around and marched towards Luke without a trace of hesitation. She fidgeted and fumbled her own fingers nervously as she approached with a very small and timid smile making its way on to her beautiful face, she shivered a bit from the coldness of the icy atmosphere that brewed as she sauntered right up to the young gentleman wearing the signature blue newspaper boy cap.

Although it was a cold night, the warmth that grew between them was very noticeable.

When Pearl made it, stood a good inche away from him, the young American spirit medium smiled sincerely at him. "Thank you so much for saving me, Luke."

Luke broke into a _huge_ lovesick grin and a bright red hue had painted itself on his rather plump cheeks. He averted his gaze up towards the nighttime cloud-filled sky and raised a hand and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He could feel his heart pounding away inside of his chest and he just couldn't keep an embarrassed chuckle from slipping from his throat.

"Aww, forget it...i-it was nothing really. I was just doing what e-every gentleman wou-"

Pearl then leaned in and delivered unto the young apprentice gentleman a small kiss on the cheek.

Luke was effectively silenced by the quick and a silly smile plastered itself on to his face, his whole face had become so red that it would have put the colours of tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries and beet roots to total and complete shame. He stumbled around a tiny bit as though in a drunken stupor; he had just been kissed...by the prettiest girl in the whole wide world. He was so happy that he could have exploded.

Then Pearl and Phoenix and Maya left the scene, but not before a sickly Phoenix called out, "We'll see you later!"

Meanwhile, the young gentleman looked down at the snow beneath his feet, a pang of shame hitting him hard in the heart like an arrow splitting wood. Now that he was alone with the Professor, he was certain that the lecture would begin anytime now. He couldn't bring himself to look up and see the disappointment in his mentor's dot-like eyes...it would've crushed his spirits if he did because he never wanted to be a burden or anything for the older gentleman. He simply shuffled his own feet timidly and tried to avoid the gaze of the highly esteemed but very respectable professor's eyes.

"Am I in trouble too, Professor?"

The top-hatted gentleman archeologist glanced down at his young apprentice and did simply smiled. He closed his dot-like eyes and shook his head, and he knelt down into the snow in order to meet Luke on eye level -he wore one of the kindest expressions on his rectangular face as he spoke to his young apprentice.

"How can I be upset with you, my boy? You fulfilled a gentleman's creed and rescued a lady in need. There should be no shame in that."

Luke looked down, frowning. "But I stayed out passed my promised time."

It was the Professor's turn to frown, albeit it was a rather stern frown.

"Indeed. It is true that you did stay out past your curfew and that wasn't very good, but you had a very good reason for doing so...I shall let this go just this once; if you stay out past the set time again I'm afraid that there will be some rather serious consequences. Understand?"

Luke nodded his head. Of course he hadn't meant to stay out past the promised time but he had to in order to rescue Pearl from the evil clutches of Don Paolo; he wasn't about to let her get hurt by that madman even if it did ultimately end up with him getting in trouble but if he ever had to go through all of that again then he'd do it all in a single heartbeat. Yet then he recalled something that Don Paolo had said earlier, and that was when he felt that he had to ask something.

"Professor, can I ask you something?"

The Professor kept his frown but it shifted from stern back to confused again, awaiting for the inquiry to leave Luke's lips. "What is it, Luke?"

Luke hesitated for a second, fidgeting on the spot, "Do...Do you know someone named Claire Foley?"

That question got a strange reaction from the Professor. Luke had never seen it before ever since he had met the top-hat-wearing gentleman and he had no idea if he would again, he saw his beloved mentor go silent and he went as stiff as a statue as he flinched the second he heard that name. Layton's mouth hung open and his eyes shrunk with pure bereft, the boy could swear that he saw a few tiny tears collect in the corners of his eyes, and Luke frowned so much that it hurt his facial muscles. It felt as though an eternity flew by as Professor Layton knelt quietly with a shocked and longing expression on his face.

A long and awkward silence passed and Luke and narrowed his eyes and looked up at the Professor and asked with his tone of voice suddenly taking on a slightly sickened and croaky undertone "Ummm...can we go home now? I think I'm starting to get a...aaah...aaaaahhh...AAAAAAHH..." A huge sneeze cut off his sentence, breaking Professor Layton out of his momentary stupor, "ACHOOOO!"

"O-Oh!" The Professor shook his head, attempting to shake off his shock. It seemed that the ambulance paramedic was correct by saying that both Luke and Pearl were going to be quite ill after this experience. "My apologies, my boy...I'll...I...p-promise that I'll tell you someday...lets just go home now, shall we?"

Luke simply nodded, trying to ignore the oncoming cold that was beginning to plague. He wasn't quite satisfied with that answer but he wasn't going to push the poor Professor on a subject that clearly pained him, he could see the pain in his eyes for that single moment. Besides he didn't feel too great anyway and he was exhausted after the events that had unfolded this evening. He just wanted to get into his bed and sleep, maybe even have some hot chocolate or some feel-better soup or something...

The Professor climbed to his feet and took Luke's wrist into his hand, then started to walk back to their home.

As the two gentlemen walked together in silence, the air still quite nippy, the Professor glanced down at his apprentice walking alongside him and a wry smirk appeared on his lips and his eyes narrowed rather mischievously when he decided to ask his very own inquiry. His voice took on a sudden tone, a tone that sounded somewhat like a mischievous teenager teasing his friends.

"Soooo...when are you considering on asking little miss Fey on a date?"

"S-S-S-Say WH-WH-WHAAAAAT!?"

* * *

 **A/N: Final chapter is up!**

 **Sorry this took so long to finish, guys. I hope you like this little shipping fic.**

 **I'm kind of pleased with how it turned out although I hope Maya isn't too OOC in this.**

 **So yes, I think FeyT is such a cute couple and I got the inspiration to write this from "JordonPhoenix" who does amazing fanfics that include a fic named "Turnabout everlasting" that has a WHOPPING** **175 chapters and 1,332,038 words in total! It's how I fell in love with them in the first place! :D**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this fic and hopefully I will update the others too.**

 **Btw, please review.**

 **-Chloemcg**


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